Dandelion
Dandelion was one of the Sandleford Warren survivors. He is a yellow-furred rabbit, hence his name. He is Watership Down's resident storyteller, having collected several stories about El-ahrairah and Lord Frith. He is also rather of a smart mouth. He always makes a joke when someone says something out of the ordinary, and he talks back to everyone. He is good friends with Hawkbit and Blackberry. He is also the fastest runner, next to Blackberry, out of all the other Watership Down Warren rabbits. In the second book, Tales from Watership Down, Dandelion told the stories following El-ahrairah finding the Black Rabbit of Inle Black Rabbit of Inle, and going through the warren of the dead. He told the story of El-ahrairah and his friend and right side leader, Rabscuttle's, long journey home from the Warren of the Dead. TV Series In the television series, Dandelion is still described as an accomplished storyteller, is more of a joker and wise guy and provides much of the series' comedy relief. However, he is a very likeable, jolly character easy to make anyone laugh (Except Bigwig). He is also a good friend of Hawkbit. Miniseries Dandelion appears in the miniseries where he is voiced by Daniel Rigby. In this adaptation, Dandelion retains his role as the fastest rabbit. However unlike the book, film and TV series, Dandelion is not a storyteller instead that role is given to Bluebell. His role as the smart mouth is also somewhat given to said rabbit. He is also shown to be one of the most heroic of the rabbits, risking his life two times to save his friends. He is also rather quiet, and has the least amount of lines of the Sandleford rabbits. He is shown to be very strong, being able to launch Hawkbit into the air with his legs. Dandelion and Hawkbit are first shown viewing the rabbits in Sandleford Warren. Hawkbit wonders if there will be lots of does out, to which Dandelion replies by saying that does are all Hawkbit thinks about. Later on, Fiver tells the two of them that something bad is coming to Sandleford, and then tells them to meet him and Hazel under the bridge at Frith-down. They are both confused by this. During the night, Blackberry and Bluebell, who have both decided to meet Hazel and Fiver, go and get Dandelion and Hawkbit. Captain Holly comes across the six of them, and attempts to arrest them for leaving. But then, Bigwig comes and scares him off. However, he comes back with the entire Owsla, and they give chase. Blackberry spots a trash can lid in the river, and all of them jump on it, except Bigwig and Dandelion, who swim and push it to the other side. With this, they escape the Owsla. Along the journey, they come across a ruined church, and decide to rest there. However, a murder of crows live there. Hazel tries to negotiate with them, but this results in them attacking the rabbits. Dandelion gets their attention, and leads them off. One of them picks him up, but then drops him. After leaving the church, Bigwig starts to dig a scrape to live in. Dandelion, along with everyone except Hazel and Fiver, starts to help him. The next morning, a rabbit named Cowslip comes across them, and offers for them to live in his warren. Fiver is skeptical, but for the first time, Hazel disagrees with him, and wants to check out the warren. Once they get there, they find the rabbits rather odd. They all have the same color coat, and they're all rather fat. Another thing that's off is how there's so many empty burrows, which they go and sleep in. Dandelion and the others enjoy food that has been left by humans, including carrots, which they find to be a delicacy. Soon, Bigwig gets caught in a snare outside the warren. Fiver comes and warns the other rabbits, and they try to save Bigwig, but Cowslip tries to stop them, claiming that Bigwig's time to die has been decided by Frith. Blackberry shoves past him, and they go successfully rescue Bigwig. However, he has lost consciousness briefly, leading them to believe that he has died. They prepare to move on from the deadly warren, but Bigwig then wakes up, wanting to go back and kill Cowslip. Fiver stops him, saying that all they need to do is leave him behind. Strawberry, a doe from the warren, joins them on their journey to the down, which turns out to be the ideal home for them. Later on, Holly, the only survivor of the predicted destruction of Sandleford Warren, joins them as well. Soon, Dandelion and Hawkbit both develop romantic feelings for Strawberry, and they begin fighting over her. It starts out with them telling her bad things (a few of them being lies) about each other. The only example shown, however, is when Hawkbit tells her that Dandelion had the white blindness, which infuriates him. Later that night, the fight becomes physical, but Bigwig and Strawberry break them up. Hazel, Fiver, and Bigwig go to Nuthanger Farm to try and bring back its does, while Holly, Blackberry, and (involuntarily) Bluebell go to Efrafa to ask them for does, after Kehaar tells them about it, leaving Dandelion, Hawkbit, Strawberry, and Kehaar at the warren. The three rabbits decide to dig the warren, with Dandelion and Hawkbit on one side, and Strawberry on the other. The two successfully dig a small tunnel, asking themselves why does think they're so good at digging, but in humorous irony, Strawberry digs through their tunnel. Hawkbit then breathlessly questions how she dug two tunnels in the time that it took him and Dandelion to dig just one. She hasn't just dug a tunnel, but also a main tunnel that she nicknames the Honeycomb. The two bucks are impressed by it, remarking that Strawberry has given them a home. Later on, after Holly, Blackberry, and Bluebell have escaped Efrafa, and Fiver and Bigwig have come back with Clover and Haystack, but without Hazel, as he's been shot by the farmer, and was left behind, they meet up back at the warren. They discuss what to do without Hazel, but Clover wants to go back and find him, and sneaks off while the rabbits are arguing. Bigwig sees this, and goes off after her. Clover finds Hazel, but gets captured by Efrafan guards. Bigwig decides to infiltrate the warren, and save her, along with the other does. Dandelion and the others wait for Kehaar to arrive, so that they can escape the warren once they have the does, but he doesn't, causing a loss for ideas among the rabbits. They go back to the river, where Fiver has a vision of himself inside a Hrududu, and he believes it means safety. He, Dandelion, Blackberry, Bluebell, and Hawkbit go across the bridge to the town. Fiver finds the hrududu from his vision, but once he approaches it, he realizes that something isn't right. Right at that moment, the cars are cleared to continue through the road. Dandelion jumps in to save him, but soon, both of them get stuck in the middle of the street. They manage to weave through the cars and make it back to the other rabbits. Hawkbit then tells Fiver to keep his next vision to himself. They go back to the other side of the river. Fiver manages to convince Hazel to move back under the Iron Road, and then go to the south, in order to avoid Efrafa. However, at the Iron Road, Bigwig intercepts them. He has Clover, along with all the other does. However, Woundwort catches up to them. Kehaar arrives and starts diving at the Efrafan soldiers, causing enough confusion to allow the rabbits to escape to Watership Down. There, they reunite with Holly, Strawberry, and Haystack, who stayed behind. Dandelion and Hawkbit come to Strawberry, asking her which one of them she has decided on. However, Hawkbit adds in one crudely said bit at the end, causing her to run away. Dandelion berates him for this, as he hadn't even said it when they rehearsed it. Haystack smells the incoming Efrafans, who have tracked them to the warren. Hazel assigns Dandelion and Hawkbit to guard duty at the wood run together. There, Hawkbit talks about how he will die, and Dandelion will live with Strawberry, and she'll name one of their kits Hawkbit to remember him by. Dandelion replies by saying that he will kill him himself if he doesn't shut up. Later on, after Holly is killed, Dandelion and everyone else trapped in the warren mourns him. The Efrafans abandon the tunnels, and start digging from above. Fiver gets a vision of the dog from the farm, and has an idea to lead the dog to the Efrafans. Dandelion gets his leg injured by Efrafans, and is unable to run, so Hazel takes Blackavar with him, along with Fiver. Dandelion manages to survive the battle. However, Strawberry doesn't choose him or Hawkbit, and instead goes for Bigwig. The two of them look upon the family with disappointment, but another doe walks by them, catching their attention. They both go after her. He has a golden brown coat, and yellow eyes, hence his name. He is very lean, and has long legs, to go with him being the fastest runner. Trivia *Dandelion's animated TV series' counterpart is considered the slowest rabbit, while his film and miniseries counterpart stay true to him being the fastest runner in the book series. Category:Rabbits Category:Watership Down (book) characters Category:Film characters Category:TV series characters Category:Bucks Category:Characters Category:Sandleford warren Category:Watership Down warren Category:Miniseries characters